Prometni vzorci so povsod po svetu enaki. Vzlet, dvignjena prestava, veter, spuščena prestava, spuščene zakrilca, baza, finale… motor ali brez motorja.
V šolo za rezervne častnike sem prišel brez ene same ure v motornem letalu. Moje izkušnje z letenjem so bile na različnih vrstah jadralnih letal, kar pomeni, da je bil moj motor vzgornik ali termični vzgon, in ko ga ni bilo več, je bila višina moj vir pogona. Toda višina je bila dobrina, ki je včasih hitro zgorela, zato je bilo treba hitro razmišljati in biti iznajdljiv, če se je hotel let končati tam, kjer se je začel – na domačem letališču.
In tam sem bil – v pilotski kabini letala, težkega dve toni in pol, ki ga je poganjal reaktivni motor z močjo približno polovice običajne vzletne teže. Začeli smo že leteti samostojno, a preden so nam inštruktorji dovolili, da smo poleteli stran od njihovih pogledov, smo delali neskončne prometne vzorce….
Do konca prvih dni sem mislil, da sem ukrotil zver – letel je točno tako, kot sem mu ukazal, zadovoljen sem bil s svojo zmogljivostjo, saj sem natančno zadel številke (hitrost in višina za vsak segment), le pristanek mi je povzročal težave. Ne da ne bi bil natančen pri pristajanju, vendar je bil čuden občutek, ko sem manipuliral z ročicami za plin … tega nisem bil vajen. Pri letenju z jadralnim padalom izračunate, in ko zavijete v bazo, vam ostane le malo možnosti, kako in kje pristati. Ne pozabite, da je edini vzgon, ki ga imamo na jadralnem letalu, višina, zato je odločitev o tem, kdaj bomo izvedli posamezen segment prometnega vzorca, ključnega pomena.
Our instructors were sitting in a small cabin near the touchdown point, with the list of the participants in traffic patterns, judging our final approach, landing, and take-off. They had a hand-held radio station, just in case, if someone gets in trouble, and intervention from them would be needed. There was no escape from their sharp eyes…they have seen it all and every mistake we made couldn’t have passed unnoticed.
It was almost the end of the flying day, and five of us were in the early afternoon traffic pattern. And it was a hot summer afternoon. It was so hot, that sweat started to pour down my forehead when I put my helmet on the apron. I thought I was dreaming – this was not possible, where did all that liquid come from? It was pouring so intensively, that it filled my mouth and was dripping on my flying suit. And when I closed the canopy, it became unbearable. I was already dehydrated and slightly dizzy when taxiing toward the runway. There was no air conditioning, only a very rudimental air vent, but it was working only when the aircraft was moving fast, during taxiing it was only delivering more hot air into the cockpit.
Po nekaj vožnjah sem se lahko nekoliko ohladil, saj je zrak pihal skozi zračnik. Počutil sem se, kot da sem v gliserju – bil je poletni dan, nebo je bilo polno neštetih kumulusnih oblakov in med jadranjem sem vedno odprl zračnik in včasih celo potisnil roko ven, samo da sem tok hladnega zraka preusmeril, kamor sem želel. Tega nisem mogel storiti v Galeb…..preveč dela v vzorcih in zračnik ni bil niti približno takšen kot na jadralnih letalih. Moja pozornost se je poslabšala. Nisem razmišljal 100-odstotno jasno. Žejen, dehidriran, utrujen. In potem se je zgodilo.
The first three-quarters of the pattern were executed more or less ok. I dropped the gear on time, lowered the flaps, reduced speed to 240 km/h, looked over my right shoulder (I was landing on Runway 13), waited for that 45-degree angle between the wingtip and touchdown point, turned to final, dropped speed to 210 km/h, flaps full, power set to 75% and….shit….I’m too low! My glider pilot logic suddenly kicked in, I totally forgot, that there is an engine, delivering more than enough thrust to correct attitude, but no….the sun, heat, and stupidity prevailed. Next thing my glider pilot survival logic woke up and I even slightly reduced the angle, so as not to lose speed (speed is life!). My comprehension of the situation was rapidly shrinking and I was totally focused on bringing the glider safely to the ground. I was holding the throttle the whole time! The runway was approaching fast (210 km/h is fast), I started to flare and in split second I was relieved – I was going to land more or less on the runway! My gliding self-consciousness has told me, that runway is grass and this is what I see in front of me. Phew! Going to make it! Yeah!
Touch down was almost perfect, I didn’t hear tires screeching, nor felt 2.5 tonnes of metal touching a hard surface. What I heard were two loud bangs. Holly shit! What did I hit on the runway? Is everything ok with the plane? “6-2 continue!” I heard it over the radio. Everybody in our unit had his own code, mine was 6-2, which was read as six-second. Well, if the wise men in the cabin said to continue, everything was obviously in order, so I kicked the throttles to full power, waited for speed to build up, and took off again. I was back in powered aircraft modus.
Na vetru sem pogledal čez desno ramo, da bi preveril, ali sem pravilno poravnan z vzletno-pristajalno stezo, in na svojo grozo sem 20-30 metrov pred stezo zagledal velik oblak prahu. Mislil sem, da je nekdo strmoglavil, in začel sem šteti letala pred seboj, da bi izračunal, kdo je bil to. Toda nihče ni manjkal.
I made another touch-and-go and then some more.
Ni bilo ne reševalnega vozila ne gasilcev, inštruktor v koči pa je ves čas ohranjal miren glas. Očitno ni bilo nobene nujnosti.
After landing I taxied to my parking position, and as soon as I switched the engine off, the mechanic disappeared under the wings. My instructor came and asked how it was. Pretty well, I answered. I was actually quite pleased with my performance.
After flying activities, we all gathered in the conference room for debriefing. It was short, and nothing special was reported so we were released to our de-briefing rooms, where instructors would de-brief individually their students (each had two). My colleague and I were already there, chatting while waiting for him to return from the main building. Doors opened, and he sat in front of us and asked us if everything was ok. We looked at each other, shrug our shoulders, and nodded. He then turned to me, with the biggest grin on a face you can imagine, and asked: “are you sure?”
Padla mi je čeljust in srce mi je razbijalo, ko mi je razložil, da je bil eden od priletov prenizko in da sem pristal pred vzletno-pristajalno stezo ter za seboj dvignil velik oblak prahu…
To sta bila tista dva glasna udarca! Podvozje udarja ob rob vzletno-pristajalne steze!
V tistem trenutku sem si želel, da bi se zemlja odprla, da bi za vedno izginil v jami … Bilo mi je nerazumljivo nerodno, mislil sem, da me bodo poslali domov, in za to bom večno preklet.
Ko me je vprašal, kaj se je zgodilo, Vse se je vrnilo k meni…Nisem si upal govoriti o mentaliteti pilota jadralnega letala, zato sem samo zamrmral “Ne vem…” in to je bilo to. Samo smejal se je, jaz pa sem si za vedno zapomnil – če imaš na letalu delujoč motor, ga uporabi!
D.
